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And I wouldn’t have endangered her life.
My free hand drifts down to her stomach and stays there. “I’m going to make sure everything is fucking right before you’re here. You can count on me.”
Isabella stirs. “Carter?”
My heart misses a beat. “I’m here, dove. What do you need?”
I twist to face her, and her eyes flutter open. She blinks once, twice, a frown hovering on the edge of her lips. Slowly, comprehension dawns on her face, and her eyes widen. She throws her arms around me and buries her face in the crook of my neck. Then she bursts into tears, loud, nerve-wracking ones that send wave after wave of anger through me.
Fucking Rich Donahue is going to pay. He’s been a pest in our lives for too long, a problem I should’ve taken care of a long time ago. There’s no excuse for why he’s still running around, clinging to the shadows to take care of business.
I try to hold myself still while Isabella cries in my arms. Every sniff and every hiccup makes me angrier, the kind where I want to race out of the room, find the nearest wall, and punch it repeatedly. Instead, I resist, pushing back against the bile and anger that threaten to pull me under. By the time Isabella composes herself, my headache has returned, and I’m still seeing red.
Isabella’s eyes are bloodshot and unfocused. “Where are we? Where’s Tristan?”
“Tristan is in a room of his own. He’s recovering,” I reply, pausing to run my fingers through her hair. “The two of you have been through a lot.”
Isabella releases a deep, shaky breath. “How did—I thought you were underground?”
I frown. “Did Rich tell you that?”
Isabella pauses and nods, her expression falling. “He did. I shouldn’t have listened to him. I knew something was wrong when he stepped out of the shadows and started trying to force me to go with him.”
My hands move to her shoulders. “What happened?”
Isabella lowers her gaze and won’t look at me. “There was blood. It was so much blood, Carter, and I—it’s my fault. I didn’t know what to do.”
“It is not your fault, dove. None of this is. Fucking Rich is the reason any of this happened. And when I find him, I’m going to make sure he pays. I fucking swear.”
Isabella looks up at me and bursts into a fresh wave of tears. Her shoulders begin to shake, and she’s hyperventilating, sending the monitor into a frenzy. The door bursts open, and the red-haired nurse hurries into the room and glances at the monitor. She takes a vial out of her pocket and uses a syringe. Wordlessly, she injects Isabella with something, and it takes a few seconds for it to work.
As soon as it does, Isabella goes limp and sinks back against the mattress.
Gingerly, I draw myself away and stand up. “What the fuck did you give her?”
“It’s just something to help her calm down and sleep. She doesn’t need any more stress, especially with the baby.”
I fold my arms over my chest. “You need to be careful what you give her.”
“I know how to do my job, sir.”
“You fucking better,” I mutter, mostly to myself. The nurse gives me a dark look on her way out, and I feel her eyes on me through the glass. When I spin around to face her, she holds my gaze for a while longer without looking away. Then Ernesto appears, his shoulders squared and holding himself as stiff as a rod. I step out of the room, let the door click shut behind me, and exhale.
“Who else knows?”
“We’re still trying to find out,” Ernesto whispers, with a quick look around. “Neither Tristan nor Isabella are in any condition to be moved right now.”
I dig my nails into my palms. “I am not fucking leaving them. Not a chance.”
Especially if this hospital is about to be another battlefield.
While I don’t want to start anything in a place like this, if my enemies show up, I might not have a choice. Still, the thought of leaving Isabella behind, helpless and defenseless while they turn her into a pin cushion, doesn’t sit well with me.
I know how these people operate. And I know all too well what they’d do if they got their hands on her.
“I wasn’t going to suggest that, but you do need to lie low,” Ernesto replies, pausing to inch closer to me. “Paul is out buying a disguise as we speak.”
“A fucking disguise? Are you joking?”
